Adaptive coding for lidar systems

ABSTRACT

A Lidar system is provided. The Lidar system comprise: a light source configured to emit a multi-pulse sequence to measure a distance between the Lidar system and a location in a three-dimensional environment, and the multi-pulse sequence comprises multiple pulses having a temporal profile; a photosensitive detector configured to detect light pulses from the three-dimensional environment; and one or more processors configured to: determine a coding scheme comprising the temporal profile, wherein the coding scheme is determined dynamically based on one or more real-time conditions including an environment condition, a condition of the Lidar system or a signal environment condition; and calculate the distance based on a time of flight of a sequence of detected light pulses, wherein the time of flight is determined by determining a match between the sequence of detected light pulses and the temporal profile.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/803,805, filed Feb. 27, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/539,240, filed Aug. 13, 2019, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/175,274, filed Oct. 30,2018, which claims priority to International PCT Application No.PCT/CN2018/109049, filed on Sep. 30, 2018, which claims the benefit ofChinese Application No. CN201810678690.4, filed Jun. 27, 2018, each ofwhich is entirely incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Lidar (light detection and ranging) technology can be used to obtainthree-dimensional information of an environment by measuring distancesto objects. A Lidar system may include at least a light sourceconfigured to emit a pulse of light and a detector configured to receivereturned pulse of light. The returned pulse of light or light beam maybe referred to as echo light beam. Based on the lapse time between theemission of the pulse of light and detection of returned pulse of light(i.e., time of flight), a distance can be obtained. The pulse of lightcan be generated by a laser emitter then focused through a lens or lensassembly. The returned pulse of light may be received by a detectorlocated near the laser emitter. The returned pulse of light may bescattered light from the surface of an object.

In some cases, confusion between return pulses may occur which mayintroduce incorrect measurements of distance. For example, scatteredlight from another pulse transmitted by the same Lidar system or by asecond Lidar system in proximity to the LiDAR system may mistakenly bepaired with the original pulse light, which may lead to an incorrectmeasurement. Additionally, range and accuracy of Lidar systems can belimited by environmental noise, cross talk between multiple Lidarsensors, and instrumental noise in the detected signal. Associating apulse of light with scattered light that does not correspond to thepulse of light may cause the Lidar system to interpret the presence ofan object, even though there is no physical object there.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A need exists for improved Lidar system for three-dimensionalmeasurement. A further need exists for a Lidar system with encodedsignals or encoded pulses of light beams to avoid cross-talk acrossdifferent channels and/or interference between different Lidar systems.The provided Lidar system may address the above needs by employing anadaptive coding scheme or coding mechanism. The provided Lidar may haveimproved resistance to environmental noise. In particular, the codingscheme may change dynamically according real-time conditions. Differentcoding schemes may be selected based on an environment condition, signalcondition and various others to minimize the impact of unintendedsignals or to better distinguish from unintended signals. Additionally,different coding schemes may be selected for improved energy efficiency.Three-dimensional imaging may be achieved by the provided Lidar systemwith improved accuracy and better performance.

In some aspects, a Lidar system employing adaptive coding schemes isprovided. The Lidar system may comprise: at least one light sourceconfigured to emit a multi-pulse sequence to measure a distance betweenthe Lidar system and a location in a three-dimensional environment, andthe multi-pulse sequence comprises multiple pulses having a temporalprofile; at least one photosensitive detector configured to detect lightpulses from the three-dimensional environment; and one or moreprocessors electrically coupled to the light source and thephotosensitive detector and the one or more processors are configuredto: determine a coding scheme comprising the temporal profile, whereinthe coding scheme is determined dynamically based on one or morereal-time conditions including an environment condition, a condition ofthe Lidar system or a signal environment condition; and calculate thedistance based on a time of flight of a sequence of detected lightpulses, wherein the time of flight is determined by determining a matchbetween the sequence of detected light pulses and the temporal profile.

In some embodiments, the coding scheme further comprises informationabout a successive signal emitted by the light source. For example, theinformation may indicate the successive signal is multi-pulse sequencehaving a different temporal profile or that successive signal is asingle pulse. In some embodiments, the multiple pulses are emittedwithin a time window having a duration of no more than 100 ns.

In some embodiments, the environment condition comprises weather,geolocation of the Lidar system or a sparsity of target objects in theenvironment. In some embodiments, the condition about the Lidar systemcomprises a power consumption or temperature of the Lidar system. Insome embodiments, the signal environment condition comprises informationabout noise, exogenous signals or channel condition. In some cases, thesignal environment condition is obtained by processing selected signalsfrom the detected light pulses. In some embodiments, the one or morereal-time conditions are obtained from one or more data sources incommunication with the Lidar system or sensor data.

In some embodiments, the light source comprises: (i) a light emittingdevice; (ii) an energy storage element coupled to the light emittingdevice under the control of a switching element for generatingmulti-pulse sequence, and (iii) a plurality of charging units, whereineach of the plurality of charging units has a built-in switching elementconfigured to charge the energy storage element with a pre-determinedamount of energy. In some cases, the one or more processors are furtherconfigured to generate control signals to the switching element and thebuilt-in switching element of each of the plurality of charging units.In some instances, the control signal to the built-in switching elementcauses a pre-determined amount of energy supplied from the correspondingcharging unit to the energy storage element. The pre-determined amountof energy is used to emit the multiple pulses in a multi-pules sequenceor emit one pulse in a multi-pules sequence. In some instances, thecontrol signal to the switching element causes a sequence of electricaldischarges from the energy storage element to the light emitting devicethereby triggering emission of multiple pulses in a multi-pulsesequence. In some cases, the pre-determined amount of energy suppliedfrom a first charging unit is different from the amount of energysupplied from a second charging unit. In some instances, the duration,amplitude, time intervals of the multiple pulses in a multi-pulsesequence are regulated by the control signals transmitted to theswitching element or the built-in switching element.

In some embodiments, determining the match comprises comparing one ormore factors extracted from the sequence of detected light pulses to thetemporal profile. In some cases, the one or more factors comprise timeintervals, number of pulses in a sequence, amplitude, amplitude ratio,or duration ratio. In some instances, the one or more factors areselected dynamically based at least in part on the one or more real-timeconditions.

In some embodiments, a successive multi-pulse sequence is emitted priorto a pulse from the preceding sequence being reflected by thethree-dimensional environment and returned to the photosensitivedetector. In some embodiments, the time of flight associated with thesequence of detected light pulses is the average of the time of flightassociated with each detected light pulse.

In another aspect of the invention, a method for encoding a Lidar systemis provided. The method comprises: determining a coding schemecomprising a temporal profile, wherein the coding scheme is determineddynamically based on one or more real-time conditions including anenvironment condition, a condition of the Lidar system or a signalenvironment condition; emitting a multi-pulse sequence to measure adistance between the Lidar system and a location in thethree-dimensional environment, wherein the multi-pulse sequencecomprising multiple pulses having the temporal profile; detecting lightpulses from the three-dimensional environment; determining a matchbetween a sequence of detected light pulses and the temporal profile;and calculating the distance based on a time of flight of the sequenceof detected light pulses.

In some embodiments, the temporal profile comprises on one or moremembers selected from the group consisting of amplitude of each pulsefrom the multiple pulses, duration of each pulse from the multiplepulses, time intervals among the multiple pulses and number of themultiple pulses. In some embodiments, the coding scheme furthercomprises information about a successive signal emitted following themulti-pulse sequence. In some cases, the successive signal is amulti-pulse sequence having a different temporal profile. In alternativecases, successive signal is a single pulse.

In some embodiments, the multiple pulses are emitted within a timewindow having a duration of no more than 100 ns. In some embodiments,the environment condition comprises weather, geolocation of the Lidarsystem or a sparsity of target objects in the environment. In someembodiments, the condition about the Lidar system comprises a powerconsumption or temperature of the Lidar system. In some embodiments, thesignal environment condition comprises information about noise,exogenous signals or channel condition. In some cases, the signalenvironment condition is obtained by processing selected signals fromthe detected light pulses.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises comparing one or morefactors extracted from the sequence of detected light pulses to thetemporal profile to determine a match. In some embodiments, one or morefactors comprise time intervals, number of pulses in a multi-pulsesequence, amplitude, amplitude ratio, or duration ratio. In someembodiments, the one or more factors are selected dynamically based atleast in part on the one or more real-time conditions. In someembodiments, the time of flight associated with the sequence of detectedlight pulses is the average of the time of flight associated with eachdetected light pulse.

In some cases, a successive multi-pulse sequence is emitted prior to alight pulse from the preceding sequence being reflected by thethree-dimensional environment and returned to the photosensitivedetector. In some cases, the successive multi-pulse sequence has adifferent temporal profile.

Additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will becomereadily apparent to those skilled in this art from the followingdetailed description, wherein only exemplary embodiments of the presentdisclosure are shown and described, simply by way of illustration of thebest mode contemplated for carrying out the present disclosure. As willbe realized, the present disclosure may be capable of other anddifferent embodiments, and its several details are capable ofmodifications in various obvious respects, all without departing fromthe disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to beregarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

All publications, patents, and patent applications mentioned in thisspecification are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent asif each individual publication, patent, or patent application wasspecifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity inthe appended claims. A better understanding of the features andadvantages of the present invention will be obtained by reference to thefollowing detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments,in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and theaccompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 schematically shows a block diagram of a Lidar system, inaccordance with some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows various examples of encoded sequences of light pulses.

FIG. 3 shows an example of identifying legitimate sequence of lightpulses from return signals.

FIG. 4 shows an example of two multi-pulse sequences having differenttemporal profiles.

FIG. 5 schematically shows an exemplary light source, in accordance withsome embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a sequence of pulses generated in response tocontrol signals.

FIG. 7 is a simplified structural diagram of a Lidar system, consistentwith various embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

While preferable embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatsuch embodiments are provided by way of example only. Numerousvariations, changes, and substitutions will now occur to those skilledin the art without departing from the invention. It should be understoodthat various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention describedherein may be employed in practicing the invention.

Lidar is a type of ranging sensor characterized by long detectiondistance, high resolution, and low interference by the environment.Lidar has been widely applied in the fields of intelligent robots,unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous driving or self-driving. Theworking principle of Lidar is estimating a distance based on a roundtrip time (e.g., time of flight) of electromagnetic waves between asource and a target.

Incorrect measurements may occur when an unwanted signal, signalgenerated by exogenous sources or other time session is correlated to ameasurement signal. This may be happen when a returned signal is notdistinguishable from exogenous signals or unintended signals. Theexogenous signal or unintended signal may be noise signal such as alight pulse due to sun light, a solar flare or cosmic ray, signalsgenerated by a different Lidar system, signals generated by a differentlaser/emitter (i.e., cross-talk between channels), and various others.For example, when a measurement pulse of light is emitted from one laserbefore a measurement pulse of light emitted from another laser has hadtime to return to the detector, it may be difficult to associate areturned signal with the measurement pulse of light. In conventionalLidar system, cross-talk among different channels of the LIDAR systemmay be reduced by setting a delay time or latency between each Lidarmeasurement to be greater than the time of flight of the measurementpulse sequence to and from an object located at the maximum range of theLidar device, or by providing sufficient spatial separation among pairsof emitters and detectors. However, such methods are at the cost oftemporal or spatial resolution.

Lidar systems and methods of the present invention may provide encodedlight pulses by employing an adaptive coding scheme. In someembodiments, a sequence of multiple light pulses may be generated andencoded according to an adaptive coding scheme. The multiple lightpulses may be encoded to present distinguishable signatures such thatthe correlation process may be simplified thereby improving measurementaccuracy. The signature may be a distinct temporal profile. The multiplelight pulses may be encoded by varying the time interval of pulses,number of pulses in a sequence, amplitude of a given pulse in asequence, duration of a pulse, or any combination of the above. In somecases, a coding scheme may comprise to a temporal profile of a sequenceof pulses. In some cases, the temporal profile may specify time intervalof pulses in a sequence, number of pulses in a sequence, amplitude of agiven pulse in a sequence, duration of a pulse in a sequence and thelike. Different coding schemes may have different temporal profiles. Insome cases, sequences of light pulses emitted by the same light sourcemay have the same temporal profile such that a sequence of encoded lightpulses is emitted periodically and in each cycle there is one sequenceof light pulses. In some cases, sequences of light pulses emitted by thesame light source may have different temporal profiles. For example,there may be two or more sequences of light pulses having differenttemporal profiles in a period of time. In some cases, sequences havingdifferent temporal profiles may be temporarily spaced at pre-determinedtime intervals according to a specific order such that consecutivesequences may not have the same temporal profile. In such cases, acoding scheme may comprise to a temporal profile of a sequence of lightpulses, information about combination of multiple sequences (e.g.,combination of encoded sequences and non-encoded signals, etc),information about a successive signal (e.g., a temporal profile of thesuccessive signal, a single pulse) and other variables.

In some cases, the Lidar system may be a multi-line Lidar system. Forexample, the provided multi-line Lidar may produce multi-line bymultiplexing the same or a group of lenses with multiple laser sources,arranged at different heights on the focal plane of the lens. Thisproduces different directivity in the vertical direction, formingmultiple lines. Traditionally, cross-talk among different channels ofthe LIDAR system may be reduced by setting a delay time or latencybetween each Lidar measurement to be greater than the time of flight ofthe measurement pulse sequence to and from an object located at themaximum range of the Lidar device, or by providing sufficient spatialseparation among pairs of emitters and detectors. However, in order tomaximize imaging resolution, it is desirable to trigger as many channelsas possible, simultaneously, so that time of flight measurements may beobtained from multiple channels at the same time, rather thansequentially. The provided encoding method may enable concurrentmeasurements by encoding the measurement signals with distinguishabletemporal profiles such that a return signal can be correctly associatedwith a measurement multi-pulse sequence to avoid cross-talk. Forexample, signals communicated by different channels may be encoded usingdifferent coding schemes.

In some cases, the coding scheme may change dynamically so as tominimize the impact of unintended signals or to better distinguish fromunintended signals. For example, different coding schemes may beselected based on an environment of the signals such as collected noisesignal in the environment, signals of other Lidar systems in presence,quality of returned signals, location of the Lidar system in anenvironment (e.g., in a cluttered or urban environment, in a sparse orrural environment, etc), complexity of an environment (e.g., sparsity ofobjects in the environment), weather conditions, proximity to potentialobstacles, location of geographical features, location of manmadestructures, and various other factors. In another example, a codingscheme may comprise pseudo-randomized temporal profile such that thechance to collect unintended signals exhibiting the samepseudo-randomized temporal profile may be lowered.

In some cases, the coding scheme may change dynamically to improveenergy efficiency of the Lidar system. For example, when the Lidarsystem is detected to be in a less complex environment (e.g., ruralplace), a coding scheme with fewer pulses of light generated within aperiod of time may be selected over a coding scheme having a complicatedtemporal profile or with more pulses of light generated within a periodof time. In another example, when the Lidar system is detected to be inan environment with potential objects in a longer distance away from thedetector, a coding scheme may be selected to provide pulses of lightwith greater amplitude and lower frequency.

As utilized herein, terms “sequence of light pulses”, “multi-pulsesequence”, “sequence of pulses”, “sequence of signals” and the like areused interchangeably throughout the specification unless contextsuggests otherwise. Terms “measurement signals”, “measurement pulses”,“measurement sequence of pulses” and the like may refer to light pulsesemitted from the emitting apparatus of the Lidar system unless contextsuggests otherwise. Terms “echo beams”, “return signals”, “returnpulses” and the like are used interchangeably throughout thespecification unless context suggests otherwise.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a block diagram of a Lidar system 100, inaccordance with some embodiments of the invention. The Lidar system 100may be configured to be capable of generating multi-pulse sequences. Insome cases, the multi-pulse sequence comprises multiple pulses which maybe emitted into the surrounding environment before a return signal fromany of the multiple pulses is detected. In some embodiments, an emitterof the Lidar system may emit a multi-pulse sequence having a temporalprofile and a detector of the Lidar system may detect a sequence ofreturned light pulses at a return time. A delay time may refer to theperiod of time between which the sequence of light pulses leaves theemitter and the reflected sequence of light pulses is received at thereceiver. The delay time may then be used to compute a distancemeasurement. The delay time may also be referred to as time of flight.

A sequence of light pulses may comprise multiple pulses emitted withinshort time duration such that the sequence of light pulses may be usedto derive a distance measurement point. For example, Lidar can be usedfor three-dimensional (3D) imaging (e.g., 3D point cloud) or detectingobstacles. In such cases, a distance measurement associated with asequence of light pulses can be considered a pixel, and a collection ofpixels emitted and captured in succession (i.e., “point cloud”) can berendered as an image or analyzed for other reasons (e.g., detectingobstacles). A sequence of light pulses may be generated and emittedwithin a duration of, for example, no more than 10 ns, 20 ns, 30 ns, 40ns, 50 ns, 60 ns, 70 ns, 80 ns, 90 ns, 100 ns, 200 ns, 300 ns, 400 ns,500 ns, 600 ns, 700 ns, 800 ns, 900 ns, 1 μs, 2 μs, 3 μs, 4 μs, 5 μs, ormore. In some cases, the time intervals between consecutive sequencesmay correspond to the temporal resolution of 3D imaging. The timeintervals among sequences may be constant or variable. In someembodiments, a sequence of light pulses is emitted from a light sourcethat is turned or rotated by a rotor of the Lidar system. The timeduration of the sequence may be short enough such that the multiplepulses are emitted into substantially the same spot in the 3Denvironment or can be used to measure a distance from the Lidar systemto a particular location in the 3D environment.

In some cases, a multi-pulse sequence may be emitted to a spot in a 3Denvironment and a successive multi-pulse sequence may be emitted to adifferent spot in the 3D environment. In some cases, all of the pixels(e.g., distance measurements) are obtained using multi-pulse sequences.In some cases, a selected subset of pixels is obtained using multi-pulsesequences and the remaining pixels may be obtained using un-encodedsignals (e.g., single light pulse). For example, a selected subset ofpixels in 3D imaging may be obtained using encoded signals such thateach pixel may be generated based on a multi-pulse sequence and anothersubset of pixels may be obtained using un-encoded signals such that eachpixel may be generated using a single light pulse. In some cases,measurement signals may be encoded at a coding frequency such thatmulti-pulse sequences may be interspersed with un-encoded signals at thecoding frequency. For instance, a multi-pulse sequence may be followedby one or more un-encoded signals (e.g., single pulses) according to thecoding frequency. In some cases, adjacent pixels in 3D imaging may beobtained using multi-pulse sequences having different temporal profilesor encoded by different coding schemes.

In some embodiments, a sequence of light pulses or multiple sequences oflight pulses are generated according to an adaptive coding scheme. Asshown in FIG. 1 , The Lidar system 100 may comprise an adaptive codingmodule 110, an emitting module 120, a receiving module 130 and a signalanalysis module 140. The emitting module 120 may be in communicationwith the adaptive coding module 110. The emitting module 120 may beconfigured to emit encoded light pulses 150 according to a coding schemegenerated by the adaptive coding module 110. The receiving module 130may comprise detectors and various other optical components configuredto detect or collect returned light pulses or signals 160. The detectedsignals may be processed by the signal analysis module 140 to correlatea sequence of detected signals to an encoded sequence of light pulses.For example, the signal analysis module 140 may be or comprise a filterto identify a temporal profile in the return signals that match thetemporal profile of the encoded sequence of signals thereby associatingthe sequence of return signals to the encoded sequence of light pulses.Details about identifying a sequence of return signals or determining amatch to correlate the multi-pulse sequences are discussed later herein.

The adaptive coding module 110 may be configured to generate ordetermine a coding scheme that can adapt to a real-time codingcondition. In some cases, the coding scheme may be changed dynamicallyby the adaptive coding module 110 so as to minimize the impact ofunintended signals or better distinguish from other unintended signals.For example, different coding schemes may be selected based on anenvironment of the signals such as collected noise signal in theenvironment, signals of other Lidar systems in presence, quality ofreturned signals, location of the Lidar system in an environment (e.g.,in a cluttered or urban environment, in a sparse or rural environment,etc), weather conditions, proximity to potential obstacles, location ofgeographical features, location of manmade structures, and various otherfactors. In another example, a coding scheme may comprisepseudo-randomized temporal profile such that the chance to collectunintended signals exhibiting the same pseudo-randomized temporalprofile may be lowered.

In some cases, a coding scheme may be varied or selected by the adaptivecoding module to improve energy efficiency of the system. For example,when the Lidar system is detected to be in a less complex environment(e.g., in a rural area), a coding scheme with fewer pulses of lightgenerated within a period of time may be selected over a coding schemehaving a complicated temporal profile or with more pulses of lightgenerated within a period of time. In another example, when the Lidarsystem is in an environment with potential objects in a longer distanceaway from the detector, a coding scheme may be selected by the adaptivecoding module 110 to provide pulses of light with greater amplitude andlower frequency.

In some embodiments, the adaptive coding module 110 may comprise acoding scheme generator 111 and a coding condition analyzer 113. Thecoding scheme generator 111 may be configured to determine or generate acoding scheme dynamically or in real-time. A coding scheme may comprisea temporal profile of a multi-pulse sequence. A coding scheme maycomprise information about a combination of multiple sequences orinformation about a successive signal. A coding scheme may comprise aset of encoding parameters specifying a temporal profile and/or acombination of multiple sequences. For example, a coding scheme maycomprise the time interval between pulses in a sequence, number ofpulses in a sequence, amplitude of a given pulse in a sequence, durationa pulse in a sequence, temporal profiles of multiple consecutivesequences, coding frequency (i.e., combination of encoded signals andun-encoded signals), duty cycle, or any combination of the above. Insome cases, a plurality of coding schemes may be stored in a database orrepository. In some cases, one or more of the aforementioned codingparameters may be stored in the coding scheme database. In addition toor alternatively, a coding scheme may be selected from a plurality ofcoding schemes or generated in runtime according to pre-defined rules orusing a predictive model built by machine learning techniques.

A coding scheme may be selected from a coding scheme repository ordatabase. The coding scheme repository may be accessible by the adaptivecoding module. The coding scheme repository may utilize any suitabledatabase operations such as create, read, update, and delete. In anotherexample, structured query language (SQL) or “NoSQL” database may beutilized for storing coding parameters associated with a coding scheme,metadata describing a scenario the coding scheme is generated (e.g.,weather, geolocation, environment, etc), coding condition and variousother data. Some of the databases may be implemented using variousstandard data-structures, such as an array, hash, (linked) list, struct,structured text file (e.g., XML), table, JavaScript Object Notation(JSON), NOSQL and/or the like. Such data-structures may be stored inmemory and/or in (structured) files. In another alternative, anobject-oriented database may be used. Object databases can include anumber of object collections that are grouped and/or linked together bycommon attributes; they may be related to other object collections bysome common attributes. Object-oriented databases perform similarly torelational databases with the exception that objects are not just piecesof data but may have other types of functionality encapsulated within agiven object. If the database of the present invention is implemented asa data-structure, the use of the database of the present invention maybe integrated into another component such as the component of thepresent invention. Also, the database may be implemented as a mix ofdata structures, objects, and relational structures. Databases may beconsolidated and/or distributed in variations through standard dataprocessing techniques. Portions of databases, e.g., tables, may beexported and/or imported and thus decentralized and/or integrated. Thecoding scheme generator may also provide open access to external filesystems, databases and data warehouses to load coding schemes.

A coding scheme may be selected from a plurality of coding schemes basedon a coding condition. A coding scheme may be selected using a set ofrules or a predictive model. A coding condition may comprise informationabout an environment of the Lidar system (e.g., geolocation of the Lidarsystem, weather, sparsity of target objects in the environment, distanceto potential target objects, etc), the Lidar system (e.g., powerconsumption, temperature, etc), signal environment (e.g., noise signals,exogenous signals, channel condition, etc) and various others. Detailsabout the coding condition are discussed later herein.

The set of rules may be hand-crafted rules or defined by users. Byexecuting the set of rules against a current coding condition, a codingscheme may be selected or determined. For example, a coding scheme maybe selected by comparing a detected signal-noise-ratio (SNR) to apre-determined threshold, detecting a complexity of the environment(e.g., density of objects in an environment, distance to potentialobjects, etc), detecting a power consumption mode/level (e.g., powersaving mode), extracting a signature or temporal profile of exogenoussignals, obtaining local weather condition, any combination of the aboveand various others.

In addition to or as an alternative, a coding scheme may be determinedor selected using a predictive model. The predictive model may be builtutilizing machine learning techniques. For instance, the predictivemodel may be trained using iterative learning cycles or updateddynamically using external data sources. In an example, input data tothe predictive model may be one or more coding conditions and the outputmay be a coding scheme.

The aforementioned coding condition may be detected and provided by thecoding condition analyzer 113. The coding condition analyzer 113 may beconfigured to obtain real-time coding condition then transmit the codingcondition to the coding scheme generator 111. As described above, acoding condition may comprise information about an environment (e.g.,geographical information, weather, sparsity of target objects, distanceto potential target objects, etc), the Lidar system (e.g., powerconsumption, temperature, etc), signal environment (e.g., noise signals,exogenous signals, channel condition, etc) and various others. Thecoding condition may be obtained from sensor data and/or various otherdata sources. For example, geographical location of the Lidar system maybe obtained from location sensors disposed on the movable object thatthe Lidar system is attached to, temperature may be obtained fromtemperature sensor of the Lidar system and the like. In some cases,information about an environment such as a geographical location,complexity of the environment (e.g., urban, rural area), terraininformation (e.g., paved/unpaved surfaces, roads, sidewalks, grass,dirt, gravel, flat surfaces, inclined or uneven surfaces, hills, slopes,speed bumps), weather condition and the like may be obtained from acontrol center of the movable object (e.g., autonomous vehicle) theLidar system is attached to, or pulled from other data sources (e.g.,Internet or public information such as map information etc). The Lidarsystem may, for example, comprise a wireless communication module toenable communication with the data sources and/or the movable vehicle.In another example, information about the Lidar system such as a powerconsumption level or power consumption mode, temperature of the Lidarsystem may be obtained from the controller of the Lidar system. In afurther example, information about the signal condition such as SNR,channel condition and various others may be obtained from the receivingapparatus of the Lidar system. Alternatively or additionally, the signalcondition may be obtained by sampling the environment. For example,sampling signals may be transmitted to the environment to test the SNRor channel condition. The sampling signals can also be used to testother coding conditions such as an environment condition of the Lidarsystem (e.g., distance to potential objects). The sampling signals mayor may not be encoded using the same coding scheme as used for themeasurement signals. The sampling signals may or may not be the same asthe measurement signals. In some cases, the sampling signals may beinterspersed with measurement signals. For example, the sampling signalsmay comprise a sequence of pulses following by one or more encodedsequences of measurement signals. In some cases, measurement signals maybe sampled and used as sampling signals. For example, a sequence ofpulses may be processed by the coding condition analyzer to extractsignal condition or environment condition.

In some cases, a coding scheme may be generated at runtime. In somecases, the coding scheme may comprise pseudo-randomized temporal profilesuch that the chance to collect unintended signals exhibiting the samepseudo-randomized temporal profile may be lowered. In some cases, thecoding scheme may be generated in runtime based on a detected codingcondition. For example, a coding scheme may be generated to be betterdistinguished from exogenous signals. For instance, a signature ortemporal profile of exogenous signals may be extracted and a codingscheme may be generated to have a distinct signature or temporal profilesuch that the encoded signals can be easily identified from theexogenous signals. In some cases, a coding scheme may be generated inresponse to detected distance of potential object (e.g., obtained bysampling signals). In such cases, pulses emitted to the directioncorresponding to long distance may have greater amplitude or duration.In some cases, when the environment is detected to be less complex, acoding scheme with fewer pulses in a sequence may be generated. Similarto the method of selecting or determining a coding scheme, a codingscheme may be generated based on the coding condition and using a set ofpre-determined rules. A coding scheme may be generated based on thecoding condition and using a predictive model built by machine learningtechniques in a similar process as described above.

The coding scheme may be transmitted to the emitting module 120 forgenerating sequences of pulses 150. The emitting module 120 may comprisea plurality of light sources. The plurality of light sources may beconfigured to generate laser beams or pulses of light. In someembodiments, the wavelength of the laser beam may be between 895 nm and915 nm (e.g., 905 nm). This wavelength range may correspond to infraredlight which are invisible and penetrative, which can improve thedetection range of the Lidar and prevent disturbance to the environment.The wavelength of the laser beam can be in any other range depending onthe specific application. In some cases, a light source may comprise atleast a laser diode and a driver circuit. In some embodiments, a lightsource or the driver circuits may comprise a plurality of charging unitscontrolled to emit a sequence of pulses within a short period of time orwith short time intervals between sequential pulses. The sequence ofpulses may have a temporal profile according to a coding scheme. Detailsabout the electronic components and implementation of the emittingmodule and/or the charging unit are described later herein. Light pulsesgenerated by the emitting module may be directed to one or more opticalelement such as a lens or lens assembly (e.g., one or more sphericallenses, cylindrical lenses, or aspheric lenses) for collimating orfocusing light beams. The one or more lenses or one or more mirrors ofthe emitting apparatus of the Lidar system may be used to expand, focus,or collimate the output light beams.

The receiving module 130 may comprise a plurality of detectorsconfigured to receive the echo beams 160. Each of the detectors maycorrespond to one of the lasers and may be configured to receive lightoriginated from the corresponding laser light source. A detector may bea photoreceiver, optical receiver, optical sensor, photodetector, oroptical detector. In some cases, a receiving module may include one ormore avalanche photodiodes (APDs) or one or more single-photon avalanchediodes (SPADs). In some cases, a receiving module may include one ormore PN photodiodes (e.g., a photodiode structure formed by a p-typesemiconductor and an n-type semiconductor) or one or more PINphotodiodes (e.g., a photodiode structure formed by an undoped intrinsicsemiconductor region located between p-type and n-type regions).

In some embodiments, the receiving module 120 may comprise an opticalreceiving device (e.g., focusing lens, focusing lens assembly), one ormore optical elements (e.g., reflectors), and a plurality of detectors.The reflected light off an external object may pass through the opticalreceiving device and then is received by the detectors. The quantity ofthe detectors may be the same as that of the lasers or light sources.The received optical signals may be converted to electrical signals andprocessed by the signal analysis module 140.

The signal analysis module 140 may be configured to decode the returnsignals 160. The signal analysis module may be configured to identifyencoded return signals from all the signals collected by the receivingmodule 130 and correlate the return signals to the sequence ofmeasurement signals. In some cases, the signal analysis module 140 mayalso be configured to extract information indicating a coding condition.For example, the signal analysis module may selectively process asequence of pulses to extract channel condition, SNR and various otherconditions then transmit the results to the coding condition analyzer113. In some cases, the signal analysis module may be configured tofurther process the identified return signal to calculate a measurementdistance. Details regarding identifying encoded return signals andcomputing a measurement distance are described later herein.

Although the coding scheme generator and the coding condition analyzerare shown as separate components, the coding scheme generator and thecoding condition analyzer can be integrated as a single component.

In some embodiments, multiple light pulses may be encoded by varying thetime interval of pulses, number of pulses in a sequence, amplitude of agiven pulse in a sequence, duration of a pulse, or any combination ofthe above. A temporal profile of a sequence of pulses may be determinedaccording to a coding scheme. In some cases, a coding scheme may alsoinclude information about a combination of sequences or informationabout a successive/following signal. The coding scheme may, for example,specify the successive signal is an un-encoded signal (e.g., singlelight pulse) or an encoded sequence. For example, a coding scheme mayspecify a temporal profile for a first sequence and a different temporalprofile for a successive sequence. In another example, a coding schememay comprise a coding frequency. For instance, a coding scheme maycomprise a coding frequency specifying that every sequence is followedby a pre-determined number of un-encoded signals (e.g., single lightpulse).

FIG. 2 shows examples of encoded multi-pulse sequences 201, 203, 205,207, 209. A multi-pulse sequence 210 may comprise multiple pulses 211. Amulti-pulse sequence may also be referred to as an encoded sequence (ofpulses). A multi-pulse sequence may comprise any number of pulses. Forexample, at least one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,ten or more pulses may be generated within a short period of time Ti2and form a multi-pulse sequence. The duration may be, for example, nomore than 10 ns, 20 ns, 30 ns, 40 ns, 50 ns, 60 ns, 70 ns, 80 ns, 90 ns,100 ns, 200 ns, 300 ns, 400 ns, 500 ns, 600 ns, 700 ns, 800 ns, 900 ns,1 μs, 2 μs, 3 μs, 4 μs, 5 μs, or more. The duration Ti2 of differentmulti-pulse sequences may or may not be the same. In some cases, theduration Ti2 of consecutive multi-pulse sequences can be different. Thenumber of pulses in successive multi-pulse sequences may or may not bethe same. For example, there can be three pulses in a multi-pulsesequence encoded according to a coding scheme 201 and two pulses in amulti-pulse sequence encoded according to another coding scheme 209. Insome cases, the number of pulses within a sequence may be used by thesignal analysis module for decoding or identifying an encodedmulti-pulse sequence.

The time interval Ti1 between every two consecutive pulses within amulti-pulse sequence may or may not be constant. The time interval canbe, for example, no more than 1 ns, 5 ns, 10 ns, 20 ns, 30 ns, 40 ns, 50ns, 60 ns, 70 ns, 80 ns, 90 ns, 100 ns, 200 ns, 300 ns, 400 ns, 500 nsor more. The time interval Ti1 within a multi-pulse sequence may vary.For instance, the time interval between the first pulse and second pulsemay be different from the time interval between the second pulse and thethird pulse. In some cases, the time interval between any two pulses maybe used by the signal analysis module for decoding or identifying anencoded multi-pulse sequence. In some cases, a derivative of timeinterval such as a ratio between two time intervals (e.g., intervalratio) may be used for decoding or identifying an encoded multi-pulsesequence.

The multiple pulses 211 may have varied amplitude (e.g., Am) or constantamplitude within a multi-pulse sequence 210. For example, multiplepulses in a multi-pulse sequence encoded according to a coding scheme205 may have varied amplitude. In some cases, the amplitudes of themultiple pulses may be used by the signal analysis module for decodingor identifying an encoded sequence. In some cases, a derivative of theamplitude such as ratio tween the amplitudes of any two pulses may beused by the signal analysis module for decoding or identifying anencoded sequence. The multiple pulses 211 may have varied durationwithin a sequence. In some cases, a temporal profile of a sequence maybe defined by the number of pulses, time intervals (e.g., Ti1), durationof the sequence (e.g., Ti2), amplitude of the pulses, or a combinationthereof in a sequence.

In some cases, the time interval (Ti3) between two consecutive sequencesmay be greater than the duration of sequence pulses (Ti2) that asuccessive sequence may not be emitted prior to receiving a returnsignal from the preceding sequence. Alternatively, the temporal profilesof two consecutive sequences are distinct such that two or moresequences of pulses can be emitted in a transmission order with shortertime interval Ti3 and the return sequences may or may not be received inthe order that is the same as the transmission order. For example, theconsecutive sequences as shown in the light pulses encoded according toa coding scheme 207 have distinct temporal profiles that the amplitudesof pulses in the two sequences are different. The return signalscorrespond to the two consecutive sequences then can be distinguished byat least the amplitude and be correlated to the measurement sequencescorrectly. In some embodiments, multiple sequences emitted by a lightsource may be individually configurable. This may advantageously provideflexibility to configure the strength (e.g., amplitude) of the sequenceof signals according to the measurement distance/direction or to achievea desired performance.

The duty cycle (e.g., ratio tween Ti2 and Ti3) may be no more than about5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and more. The time interval Ti3 between twoconsecutive sequences may be, for example, no less than 10 ns, 20 ns, 30ns, 40 ns, 50 ns, 60 ns, 70 ns, 80 ns, 90 ns, 100 ns, 200 ns, 300 ns,400 ns, 500 ns, 600 ns, 700 ns, 800 ns, 900 ns, 1 μs, 2 μs, 3 μs, 4 μs,5 μs, or more.

In some cases, encoded sequences of pulses may be interspersed withun-encoded signals. For example, one or more single pulses may beemitted between two multi-pulse sequences (e.g., pulses as shown in203). This may advantageously provide a low energy consumption codingscheme. For example, when the coding condition shows that theenvironment has fewer objects or the noise level is low, one or moreun-encoded pulses may be emitted between two encoded sequences (e.g.,pulses shown in 203) or a coding scheme with fewer pulses in a sequencemay be adopted (e.g., pulses shown in 209).

Return signals may be processed to identify encoded multi-pulsesequences. The identified sequence of return signals may be correlatedto the corresponding measurement sequence. In some cases, the encodedmulti-pulse sequence may be identified by extracting a temporal profileof a sequence of return signals and check to see if the extractedtemporal profile matches a known temporal profile. In some cases, theencoded multi-pulse sequence may be identified by extracting one or morefactors related to a temporal profile and a match may be determined bycomparing the one or more factors of the return signals to a knowntemporal profile. The known temporal profile may be provided by thecoding scheme generator. The temporal profile can be the same as thetemporal profile as described elsewhere herein. In some cases, once acoding scheme generator 111 generates or determines a coding scheme, thecoding scheme including the temporal profile may also be transmitted tothe signals analysis module 140.

The temporal profile can be the same as the temporal profile asdescribed above. The temporal profile may be defined by a plurality offactors including, but not limited to, the number of pulses, timeintervals, duration of pulses, amplitude of pulses, a ratio tweenamplitudes of any two pulses (e.g., amplitude ratio), a ratio betweendurations of any two pulses in a sequence (e.g., duration ratio), dutycycle (e.g., ratio between duration of multi-pulse sequence and timeinterval between sequences), and various others derivatives. In somecases, all of the factors are compared against a known temporal profilein order to determine a match. Alternatively or in addition to, one ormore of the factors may be selected for determining a match. Forexample, time intervals and amplitude ratio extracted from a sequence ofreturn signals may be compared to a known temporal profile to determinea match. In some cases, one or more factors may be pre-selected fordetermining a match. For instance, one or more factors may bepre-selected regardless of the coding scheme used for encoding themeasurement signals. Alternatively or in addition to, one or morefactors may be selected based on the coding scheme. For instance, upongenerating or selecting a coding scheme for a given channel, one or morefactors may be determined accordingly and the signal analysis module maybe notified of such one or more factors. In some cases, the factors fordetermining a match may dynamically change. For instance, differentfactors may be selected based on the noise signature, channel condition,environment complexity level, or other conditions.

In some cases, the collected signal may be determined to be a legitimatesequence of signals when a match is determined. The legitimate sequenceof signals may be further correlated to a sequence of measurementsignals to calculate a measurement distance or time of flight of themulti-pulse sequence. In some cases, a match is determined when theselected one or more factors are determined to match. In some cases, ifthe level of match exceeds a predetermined threshold, then the one ormore factors may be considered a match. For example, if the timeintervals match by more than 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 97%,99%, 99.9%, 99.99%, then the time intervals may be considered a match.In some cases, the threshold associated with different factors may bedifferent. For instance, the time intervals and amplitude ratio of asequence of return signals may be compared to the time intervals andamplitude ratio of the temporal profile respectively, and the timeintervals may be required to reach 80% threshold while amplitude ratiomay be required to reach the 70% threshold in order to be considered asa match. The threshold for determining a match in different codingschemes may or may not be the same. The threshold for determining amatch may or may not change along with time. For example, the thresholdcan be adjusted automatically (e.g., using a machine learning model or aset of rules) or manually (e.g., upon user provided command). In somecases, a sequence of signals may be considered to be legitimate when allof the selected factors exceed the thresholds. In some cases, a sequenceof signals is determined to be legitimate when at least a portion of theselected factors exceed the thresholds. For instance, when the timeinterval between the second pulse and the third pulse does not match thetemporal profile by the threshold, the sequence of pulses may still beconsidered legitimate signals. Alternatively, when one factor failsmeeting the threshold, the sequence of signals may not be considered aslegitimate signals. In some cases, legitimate sequence of signals may beused for calculating a distance. Signals that are determined to be notlegitimate may not be used for calculating a distance. In some cases, alegitimate sequence of signals may be permitted to partially match thetemporal profile. For example, a legitimate sequence of signals may bepermitted to have incorrect signal(s). In such cases, time of flightassociated with the incorrect signal may or may not be used forcalculating the distance or time of flight of the sequence. For example,only the correct return signals in the sequence are used for calculatinga distance.

FIG. 3 shows an example of identifying legitimate sequence of lightpulses from collected return signals. In the illustrated example, theemitted measurement signals may be a multi-pulse sequence 301 havingvaried amplitude. The temporal profile of the measurement signals may bestored in a memory unit and used for identifying legitimate sequence oflight pulses. The return signals corresponding to the multi-pulsesequence are shown as signals 303. In some cases, one or more factors(e.g., amplitude, number of pulses) of the temporal profile may bestored and used for determining a legitimate sequence of light pulses.For example, amplitudes, number of pulses in a sequence and the like maybe used to determine a match. In some cases, the return signals 303 maypreserve the ratio of amplitudes better than the value of amplitude. Insuch cases, the ratio of amplitudes may be used to determine a match ormismatch. In some instances, the return signals 305 detected by adetector may be a result of encoded signals (e.g., multiple-pulsesequence shown as solid lines) combined with other signals (e.g.,signals of an adjacent sequence, noise signals, etc shown as dottedlines). The return signals collected by the detectors may be processedor filtered to determine a match. For instance, the number of pulsesdetected within a time window may be compared to a temporal profile todetermine a match. In the illustrated example, the return signals 305collected within a time window may be determined not match the knowntemporal profile in response to detecting the number of pulses (e.g.,six pulses) not match the number of pulses (e.g., five pulses) specifiedin the known temporal profile. Alternatively or in addition to, otherfactors such as the amplitudes of return signals (Am1, Am2, Am3, Am4,Am5, Am6) may be compared to the temporal profile to determine a match.In the illustrated example, the return signals having the amplitudesAm4, Am5, Am6 are determined not match the temporal profile because theamplitudes Am4, Am5, Am6 do not match the amplitudes of the fourth andfifth pulses in the temporal profile. In some cases, the return signalscorresponding to amplitudes Am4, Am5, Am6 may be referred to asincorrect signals. In some cases, upon determining one or more returnsignals not match the corresponding a temporal profile or to beincorrect signals, the entire sequence of return signals (receivedwithin a time window) including such incorrect return signals may bediscarded. For example, return signals corresponding to amplitudes Am4,Am5, Am6 in the sequence of return signals 305 are determined to beincorrect signals, then the entire sequence of return signals 305 may bediscarded. In alternative cases, when a sequence of return signalspartially match the temporal profile, the sequence of return signals maystill be used for calculating a distance. For example, return signalscorresponding to amplitudes Am4, Am5, Am6 are detected to be incorrectsignals while return signals corresponding to amplitudes Am1, Am2, Am3are determined to match part of the temporal profile (e.g., first threepulses), in such cases, return signals corresponding to amplitudes Am1,Am2, Am3 may be associated to the first three pulses and used forcalculating a distance or TOF.

When a sequence of signals are determined to be legitimate, the sequenceof signals may be correlated to a sequence of measurement signals tocalculate a measurement distance or time of flight. FIG. 4 shows anexample of two multi-pulse sequences 401, 403 having different temporalprofiles. The two multi-pulse sequences 401, 403 may be encoded bydifferent coding schemes. As shown in the example, the two multi-pulsesequences may be different in at least the amplitude and time intervals.The two multi-pulse sequences may be emitted simultaneously or havetemporal overlap. The collected return signals 405 associated with thetwo multi-pulse sequences may also have temporal overlap. The provideddecoding method may be capable of identifying a sequence of returnsignals from the collected return signals 405. The decoding method canbe the same as the decoding method as described above. In some cases,the identified sequence may then be correlated to the originalmulti-pulse sequence. A delay time or time of flight for each pulsewithin the sequence may be obtained. For example, the time of flightassociated with each pulse in the multi-pulse sequence 401 may bedetermined T1, T2, T3, and T4, and the time of flight (TOF) associatedwith each pulse in multi-pulse sequence 403 may be determined as T1′,T2′, T3′, and T4′. In some cases, a distance may be calculated using thetime of flight associated the multi-pulse sequence. In some cases, thetime of flight associated with the multi-pulse sequence may bedetermined using the average of time of flight associated with eachpulse within a sequence. A distance may be calculated according to belowformula:

${S = {\frac{\sum\limits_{n = 1}^{k}{tn}}{2n}c}},$

where S represents the distance, k represents number of pulses in asequence, t represents time of flight associated with a pulse, and crepresents speed of light. Different method or additional processes maybe employed to obtain time of flight associated with a sequence ofpulses. For example, when an incorrect pulse is detected then suchincorrect pulse may be excluded from being used for calculating the timeof flight of the sequence. The incorrect pulse may be detected bydetected an outlier time of flight deviating from the time of flightassociated with other pulses.

The functions, methods or the one or more components described such ascoding scheme generator, coding condition analyzer, signal analysismodule may be implemented using software, hardware or firmware or acombination thereof. In some embodiments, the components such as codingscheme generator, coding condition analyzer, signal analysis module maycomprise one or more processors and at least one memory for storingprogram instructions. The processors may be onboard the Lidar system.Alternatively, the processors may be external to the Lidar system but incommunication with the Lidar system. The processor(s) can be a single ormultiple microprocessors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), ordigital signal processors (DSPs) capable of executing particular sets ofinstructions. Computer-readable instructions can be stored on a tangiblenon-transitory computer-readable medium, such as a flexible disk, a harddisk, a CD-ROM (compact disk-read only memory), and MO(magneto-optical), a DVD-ROM (digital versatile disk-read only memory),a DVD RAM (digital versatile disk-random access memory), or asemiconductor memory. The coding scheme generator may be a standalonedevice or system that is in communication with the Lidar system.Alternatively, the coding scheme generator may be a component of theLidar system. The methods disclosed herein such as decoding methodand/or adaptive coding scheme generation processes can be implemented inhardware components or combinations of hardware and software such as,for example, ASICs, special purpose computers, or general purposecomputers.

A multi-pulse sequence may have configurable time intervals, amplitudes,duration of a pulse and the like. In some cases, consecutive sequencesmay be individually configurable. The provided Lidar system may comprisean emitting module that is capable of generating individuallyconfigurable light pulses within a short period of time and/orgenerating individually configurable sequential or successive sequences.In some embodiments, the emitting module may comprise a plurality oflight sources. In some cases, a light source may comprise at least alaser diode and a driver circuit. In some embodiments, a light sourcemay be controlled to emit a multi-pulse sequence within a time windowhaving a short duration or with short time intervals between sequentialpulses.

FIG. 5 schematically shows a light source 500, in accordance with someembodiments of the invention. The light source 400 may comprise a lightemitting device such as laser diode 507 electrically coupled to anenergy storage element 505. The energy storage element 505 can be anysuitable component such as a capacitor. The light source 500 maycomprise a plurality of charging units 501-1, 501-2, . . . , 501-Nelectrically coupled to the energy storage element 505. Any number ofcharging units may be included in a light source 500. For example, atleast one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten or morecharging units may be included. The plurality of charging units may beconfigured to charge the energy storage element 505 sequentially orcollectively. The plurality of charging units may be controlled toprovide an amount of electrical energy to the energy storage element 505in response to control signals generated by a controller.

In some embodiments, each charging unit may have built-in voltageregulator and switching element to control the timing and the amount ofenergy supplied to the capacitor 505. For example, the amount of energysupplied to the capacitor 505 may be pulse energy and the duration ofthe pulse may be controlled by the charging unit. In the illustratedexample of a charging unit 501, an energy source 504 may supplyelectrical energy to a built-in energy storage unit 502 (e.g.,inductor). The energy source may be an energy source shared by and/orcoupled to the plurality of charging units. The charging unit 501 mayalso comprise a built-in switching element 506 for controlling thetiming and the amount of energy supplied to the capacitor 505. In somecases, this may be achieved by internally switching a transistor (orpower MOSFET) between its “ON” state (saturated) and its “OFF” state(cut-off). In some cases, the amount of energy supplied to the capacitor505 may be controlled by controlling the duration of the energy pulse.The switching element 506 may operate in response to control signal 510.In some instances, utilizing a charging unit having a built-in switchingelement and an inductor, in conjunction with a capacitor (e.g., energystorage element 505) may advantageously ensure a regulated output laserpower thereby providing eye safety.

The control signal 510 may be generated by a controller 520. In someembodiments, control signals 510-1, 510-2, . . . , 510-N generated bythe controller 520 may be used to control the plurality of chargingunits 501-1, 501-2, . . . , 501-N to supply energy to the capacitor 505sequentially or simultaneously. The amount of energy or pulse energysupplied by a charging unit can be additive. For example, two or morecharging units may supply energy to the energy storage element 505simultaneously. Two or more charging units may supply energy to theenergy storage element sequentially or continuously with or withouttemporal overlap. This may beneficially shorten the time taken to chargethe energy storage element 505 in a controlled manner.

In some cases, the amount of energy or pulse energy supplied by acharging unit may be used to generate a single pulse in a multi-pulsesequence. For example, the plurality of charging units may be controlledby the control signals 510-1, 510-2, . . . , 510-N to supply energy511-1, 511-2, 511-N to the capacitor sequentially that each amount ofenergy may correspond to a pulse in a multi-pulse sequence. In somecases, the amount of energy supplied by a charging unit may be used togenerate multiple pulses. For example, the capacitor 505 may be chargedby the amount of energy 511-1 supplied from charging unit 501-1, and aswitching element 509 may be used to trigger the discharge of capacitorto allow energy (e.g., current) flowing to the light emitting device 507thereby generating multiple pulses. The switching element 509 mayoperate in response to control signals 521 generated by the controller520. The control signal 521 generated by the controller 520 to theswitching element may cause a sequence of electrical discharges from theenergy storage element 505 to the light emitting device 507 therebyemitting multiple pulses in a multi-pulse sequence.

The switching element 509 may be configured to toggle between two statesdepending on the state of a control signal 521. For example, in a firststate (e.g., “OFF” state), a switching element may be substantiallynon-conductive. In this state, a capacitor 505 is effectivelydisconnected from the light emitting device 507. In the “OFF” state, thecapacitor may be charged by one or more of the plurality of chargingunits. In a second state (e.g., “ON” state), the switching element maybe substantially conductive. In this state, the capacitor iselectrically coupled to the light emitting device 507. In the “ON”state, electrical energy flows from the capacitor to the light emittingdevice 507 thereby generating a light pulse.

One or more factors such as an amplitude of a light pulse, duration of alight pulse, time intervals between pulses, and number of pulses may becontrolled by the control signals 521 to the switching element 509, thecontrol signals to the plurality of charging units 510-1, 510-2, . . .510-N or a combination of both. The provided emitting module may alsoallow for varying consecutive multi-pulse sequences. The consecutivemulti-pulse sequences may be varied in amplitude, durations of lightpulses, time intervals and like. In some cases, the amplitude of lightpulses in a multi-pulse sequence may be controlled by the amount ofenergy (e.g., duration of an energy pulse) supplied to the capacitor.For instance, a first amount of energy (e.g., energy pulse 511-1) may besupplied to the capacitor from a first charging unit (e.g., chargingunit 510-1), then the switching element 509 may be controlled todischarge the capacitor rapidly to generate a first sequence of pulses(e.g., sequence 512-1). Next, a second amount of energy (e.g., energypulse 511-2) may be supplied to the capacitor from a second chargingunit (e.g., charging unit 510-2) and the capacitor may be dischargedrapidly to generate a second sequence of pulses (e.g., sequence 512-2).The duration of energy pulses 511-1, 511-2 may be different resulting indifferent amplitudes of pulses in the two consecutive multi-pulsesequences. In addition to or alternatively, each energy pulse 511-1,511-2, 511-N may correspond to a single light pulse in a multi-pulsesequence.

In some cases, the controller 520 may implement or comprise the adaptivecoding module as described elsewhere herein. In some cases, the adaptivecoding module may be implemented by a separate component (e.g., one ormore processors) and the controller 520 may be in communication with theadaptive coding module. For example, the controller 520 may generatecontrol signals in response to a coding scheme received from theadaptive coding module.

In some cases, the controller 520 may implement or comprise the signalanalysis module as described elsewhere herein. In some cases, the signalanalysis module is implemented by a separate component (e.g., one ormore processors) and the controller 520 is in communication with thesignal analysis module.

The controller 520 may be in communication with a plurality of lightsources and/or detectors of the Lidar system. The control signals forcontrolling the charging units and the switching element of a givenlight source may be generated according to a coding scheme determinedfor the given light source.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a multi-pulse sequence 613 generated inresponse to control signals 621. The control signals 621 may begenerated to control the switching element (e.g., switching element 509)of a light source. In the illustrated example, energy pulses 611-1,611-2, 611-N may be supplied to the energy storage element (e.g.,capacitor) sequentially. Timing and/or the amount of energy suppliedfrom a charging unit to the energy storage element may be controlled inresponse to a control signal as described in FIG. 5 . In some cases,following each energy pulse, a control signal may be generated to theswitching element of the light source thereby triggering emission of alight pulse. In such case, each pulse of energy may correspond to alight pulse in a sequence. In the illustrated example, a light pulse maybe emitted immediately following an energy pulse. Alternatively, thelight pulse may be emitted at a delayed time controlled by the controlsignal 621. In some cases, following each energy pulse, multiple controlsignals may be generated to trigger multiple operations of the switchingelements. In such case, each pulse of energy may correspond to multiplelight pulses. The multiple light pulses may be a multi-pulse sequencehaving a temporal profile. The multiple light pulses may be a portion oflight pulses in a multi-pulse sequence.

The provided coding method and mechanism can be utilized in conjunctionwith various Lidar systems. The Lidar system may comprise at least alight source and a detector. In some cases, the Lidar system may be amulti-line Lidar employing multiple pairs of emitter/detector. Amultiline Lidar may provide benefits of achieving a large field of viewor greater resolution. A large area scan can be achieved by rotatingLidar and thereby rotating the vertical field of view with the Lidar. Insome cases, the multiple pairs of emitter/detector may be arranged intoarrays.

FIG. 7 is a simplified structural diagram of a Lidar system 192,consistent with various embodiments of the present disclosure. Invarious embodiments, the exemplary Lidar 192 may comprise: a rotor 190and a stator 191 separated by an outer cavity 7. The rotor 190 mayrotate about the rotating shaft 141, that is, rotate with respect to thestator 191. The rotor 190 may include an inner cavity 8. The innercavity 8 may be separated into an emitting cavity (the upper half of theinner cavity 8 above a separation board 91) and a receiving cavity (thelower half of the inner cavity 8 below the separation board 91), forexample, by using the separation board 91. In the emitting cavity, aplurality of lasers 11 may be disposed, and in the receiving cavity aplurality of detectors 51 may be disposed.

The rotor 190 may comprise a first reflector 61, a second reflector 62,and an optical emitting device 2. The angle between the first reflector61 and the laser beams emitted by the lasers 11 may be an acute angle,that is, the first reflector 61 may be disposed obliquely relative tothe supporting body 1. The measurement light pulse (the laser beamsemitted by the lasers until reaching a target) may be sequentiallyreflected by the first reflector 61 and the second reflector 62 and thenpasses through the optical emitting device 2. The measurement lightpulse emitted by the lasers 11 may pass through the optical emittingdevice 2 (e.g., collimation lens, collimation lens assembly) and thenirradiate on an external object 3. The measurement light pulse may be amulti-pulse sequence encoded by a coding scheme as described elsewhereherein.

In some embodiments, the rotor 190 may further comprise a lightfiltering device 6 (e.g., light filter). The light filtering device 6may be disposed outside the inner cavity 8 for filtering out ambientlight. The light filtering device 6 may be disposed on a light path ofreflected light off the external object 3 and may be located upstream ofan optical receiving device 4.

In some embodiments, the receiving cavity may comprise the opticalreceiving device 4 (e.g., focusing lens, focusing lens assembly), athird reflector 63, a fourth reflector 64, and a plurality of detectors51. The reflected light off the external object 3 passes through theoptical receiving device 4 and then is received by the detectors 51. Anangle between the third reflector 63 and the principal axis of theoptical receiving device 4 may be an acute angle. The reflected lightthat passes through the optical receiving device 4 may be sequentiallyreflected by the third reflector 63 and the fourth reflector 64, andthen is received by the detectors 51. The detectors 51 may be fixed on acircuit board 5 or an alternative structure. The quantity of thedetectors 51 may be the same as that of the lasers 11.

In some embodiments, the plurality of lasers 11 may emit a plurality oflaser beams. The plurality of laser beams may include a multi-pulsesequence as described above. For example, a No. 1 laser emits amulti-pulse sequence, which sequentially passes through a firstreflector 61 and a second reflector 62 and then is incident on anoptical emitting device 2, and irradiates on an external object 3 afterbeing collimated by the optical emitting device 2. Reflected light offthe external object 3 converges after passing through the opticalreceiving device 4, and then is sequentially reflected by a thirdreflector 63 and a fourth reflector 64 onto detectors 51. In summary,the multi-pulse sequence emitted by the No. 1 laser is reflected by theexternal object 3, passes through the optical receiving device 4, andthen converges to a No. 1 detector.

In some embodiments, the detectors 51 may detect the reflected light asoptical signals, and correspondingly generate electrical signals basedon the detection. The Lidar may further comprise an analysis deviceconfigured to processes the electrical signals generated by the detector51 to detect the external object 3, such as an obstacle. In someembodiments, the analysis device may comprise a signal analysis moduleas described elsewhere herein.

In some embodiments, the rotor may comprise an emitting cavity fordisposing the lasers and a receiving cavity for disposing the detectors.The emitting cavity and the receiving cavity may be separated by aseparation board. The emitted laser beams may be reflected by a firstand a second reflectors and pass through an optical emitting device toexit the Lidar. The reflected light, after entering the Lidar, may passthrough an optical receiving device and may be reflected by a third anda fourth reflectors reflected by two reflectors to reach the detectors.

The provided Lidar system may be provided on a movable object to sensean environment surrounding the movable object. Alternatively, the Lidarsystem may be installed on a stationary object.

A movable object of the present invention can be configured to movewithin any suitable environment, such as in air (e.g., a fixed-wingaircraft, a rotary-wing aircraft, or an aircraft having neither fixedwings nor rotary wings), in water (e.g., a ship or a submarine), onground (e.g., a motor vehicle, such as a car, truck, bus, van,motorcycle, bicycle; a movable structure or frame such as a stick,fishing pole; or a train), under the ground (e.g., a subway), in space(e.g., a spaceplane, a satellite, or a probe), or any combination ofthese environments. The movable object can be a vehicle, such as avehicle described elsewhere herein. In some embodiments, the movableobject can be carried by a living subject, or take off from a livingsubject, such as a human or an animal.

In some cases, the movable object can be an autonomous vehicle which maybe referred to as an autonomous car, driverless car, self-driving car,robotic car, or unmanned vehicle. In some cases, an autonomous vehiclemay refer to a vehicle configured to sense its environment and navigateor drive with little or no human input. As an example, an autonomousvehicle may be configured to drive to any suitable location and controlor perform all safety-critical functions (e.g., driving, steering,braking, parking) for the entire trip, with the driver not expected tocontrol the vehicle at any time. As another example, an autonomousvehicle may allow a driver to safely turn their attention away fromdriving tasks in particular environments (e.g., on freeways), or anautonomous vehicle may provide control of a vehicle in all but a fewenvironments, requiring little or no input or attention from the driver.

In some instances, the Lidar systems may be integrated into a vehicle aspart of an autonomous-vehicle driving system. For example, a Lidarsystem may provide information about the surrounding environment to adriving system of an autonomous vehicle. In an example, the Lidar systemmay provide a 360 degree horizontal field of view of the vehicle. Anautonomous-vehicle driving system may include one or more computingsystems that receive information from a Lidar system about thesurrounding environment, analyze the received information, and providecontrol signals to the vehicle's driving systems (e.g., steering wheel,accelerator, brake, or turn signal).

As used herein A and/or B encompasses one or more of A or B, andcombinations thereof such as A and B. It will be understood thatalthough the terms “first,” “second,” “third” etc. are used herein todescribe various elements, components, regions and/or sections, theseelements, components, regions and/or sections should not be limited bythese terms. These terms are merely used to distinguish one element,component, region or section from another element, component, region orsection. Thus, a first element, component, region or section discussedherein could be termed a second element, component, region or sectionwithout departing from the teachings of the present invention.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” or “includes” and/or “including,” when used in thisspecification, specify the presence of stated features, regions,integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do notpreclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,regions, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groupsthereof.

Reference throughout this specification to “some embodiments,” or “anembodiment,” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrase “in someembodiment,” or “in an embodiment,” in various places throughout thisspecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics maybe combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatsuch embodiments are provided by way of example only. Numerousvariations, changes, and substitutions will now occur to those skilledin the art without departing from the invention. It should be understoodthat various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention describedherein may be employed in practicing the invention. Numerous differentcombinations of embodiments described herein are possible, and suchcombinations are considered part of the present disclosure. In addition,all features discussed in connection with any one embodiment herein canbe readily adapted for use in other embodiments herein. It is intendedthat the following claims define the scope of the invention and thatmethods and structures within the scope of these claims and theirequivalents be covered thereby.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A system for light detection and ranging,comprising: a light source comprising: a light emitting deviceconfigured to emit a multi-pulse sequence encoded with a temporalprofile, an energy storage element coupled to the light emitting deviceand configured to trigger an emission of the multi-pulse sequence undercontrol of a control signal, a plurality of charging units configured tocharge the energy storage element with a pre-determined amount ofenergy; a light receiving device configured to detect light pulses, anda processor configured to determine whether a match exists between thelight pulses and the temporal profile and a distance based on the lightpulses upon determining that the match exists.
 22. The system of claim21, wherein the processor is further configured to generate and transmitthe control signal to a switching element coupled to the light emittingdevice.
 23. The system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of chargingunits are further configured to charge the energy storage element undercontrol of a sequence of switch control signals, and wherein thesequence of the switch control signals are configured to control atiming for charging the energy storage device.
 24. The system of claim23, wherein the processor is further configured to generate and transmitthe sequence of the switch control signals to a built-in switchingelement of the plurality of charging units.
 25. The system of claim 21,wherein the plurality of charging units are connected in parallel. 26.The system of claim 25, wherein a charging unit of the plurality ofcharging units comprises a built-in switching element configured tocharge the energy storage element with the pre-determined amount ofenergy.
 27. The system of claim 26, wherein the plurality of chargingunits are further configured to charge the energy storage element undercontrol of a sequence of switch control signals, and wherein a switchcontrol signal of the sequence of the switch control signals isconfigured to control the built-in switching element to cause thecharging unit to charge the energy storage element with thepre-determined amount of energy.
 28. The system of claim 26, wherein theplurality of charging units comprises a first charging unit andconfigured to charge the energy storage element with a firstpre-determined amount of energy and a second charging unit configured tocharge the energy storage element with a second pre-determined amount ofenergy, and the first pre-determined amount of energy is different fromthe second pre-determined amount of energy.
 29. The system of claim 21,wherein the temporal profile of the multi-pulse sequence comprises atleast two of: amplitude of a pulse of the multi-pulse sequence, durationof the pulse, time intervals of pulses of the multi-pulse sequence, or anumber of the pulses.
 30. The system of claim 29, wherein the pluralityof charging units are further configured to charge the energy storageelement under control of a sequence of switch control signals, andwherein a duration and timing of the sequence of the switch controlsignals are configured to control the temporal profile.
 31. An emittingdevice for a system, the emitting device comprising: a light emittingdevice configured to emit a multi-pulse sequence encoded with a temporalprofile, an energy storage element coupled to the light emitting deviceand configured to trigger an emission of the multi-pulse sequence underthe control of a control signal, and a plurality of charging unitsconfigured to charge the energy storage element with a pre-determinedamount of energy.
 32. The emitting device of claim 31, wherein thecontrol signal controls a switching element coupled to the lightemitting device.
 33. The emitting device of claim 31, wherein theplurality of charging units are further configured to charge the energystorage element under the control of a sequence of switch controlsignals, and wherein the sequence of the switch control signals controla timing for charging the energy storage device.
 34. The emitting deviceof claim 33, wherein the sequence of the switch control signals controla built-in switching element of the plurality of charging units.
 35. Theemitting device of claim 31, wherein the plurality of charging units areconnected in parallel.
 36. The emitting device of claim 35, wherein acharging unit of the plurality of charging units comprises a built-inswitching element configured to charge the energy storage element withthe pre-determined amount of energy.
 37. The emitting device of claim36, wherein the plurality of charging units are further configured tocharge the energy storage element under the control of a sequence ofswitch control signals, and wherein a switch control signal of thesequence of the switch control signals is configured to control thebuilt-in switching element to cause the charging unit to charge theenergy storage element with the pre-determined amount of energy.
 38. Theemitting device of claim 36, wherein the plurality of charging unitscomprises a first charging unit and configured to charge the energystorage element with a first pre-determined amount of energy and asecond charging unit configured to charge the energy storage elementwith a second pre-determined amount of energy, and the firstpre-determined amount of energy is different from the secondpre-determined amount of energy.
 39. The emitting device of claim 32,wherein the temporal profile of the multi-pulse sequence comprises atleast two of: amplitude of a pulse from the multi-pulse sequence,duration of a pulse, time intervals of pulses of the multi-pulsesequence, or a number of the pulses.
 40. The emitting device of claim31, wherein the plurality of charging units are further configured tocharge the energy storage element under control of a sequence of switchcontrol signals, and wherein a duration and timing of the sequence ofthe switch control signals are configured to control the temporalprofile.